What is Podcasting?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The logo used by Apple to represent Podcasting.
A podcast is a series of audio or video digital media files which are distributed over the Internet by syndicated download, through Web feeds, to portable media players and personal computers. Though the same content may also be made available by direct download or streaming, a podcast is distinguished from most other digital media formats by its ability to be syndicated, subscribed to, and downloaded automatically when new content is added. Like the term broadcast, podcast can refer either to the series of content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also called podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster.
The term is a portmanteau of the words "iPod" and "broadcast",[1[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting#cite_note-0|]]] the Apple iPod being the brand of portable media player for which the first podcasting scripts were developed (see history of podcasting). Such scripts allow podcasts to be automatically transferred from a personal computer to a mobile device after they are downloaded.[2[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting#cite_note-1|]]]
As more devices other than iPods became able to synchronize with podcast feeds, a backronym developed where podcast stood for "Personal On Demand broadCAST."[3[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting#cite_note-2|]]][4[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting#cite_note-3|]]][5[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting#cite_note-4|]]] though such a definition would create a misnomer, because podcasts are not available "on demand"; they are subscribed to and usually received at set intervals. Such a definition would more accurately describe a direct download or streaming media.